American Handgunner Jan/Feb 2010 - Page 36

J.D. Jones HANDGUNHUNTING TIPS, TECHNIQUES AND POLITICALINCORRECTNESS Those pesky soda can varmints didn’t live to tell the tale. And before anyone gets excited, Ben wore shooting glasses when shooting. BEN GOES E SHOOTING very day I look down at the grass instead of up at it is a good day. Some are better than others. I had a really good one a few weeks ago. My neighbor has a grandson, Benjaman, who is now 10 years old. About six years ago when visiting granddad they made wooden rifles and Ben did some highly entertaining playing. He has been just about everything in his imagination from a German Sniper to everything in the video games. His annual visits to the SSK shop and my collection always resulted in a pocketful of souvenirs in the way of empty cartridges, spent bullets and whatever else struck his fancy and wasn’t dangerous. This year he was full of questions about all the guns in the video games and got to see a lot of them. The Barrett .50 was a big hit, and I was particularly impressed with his questions about the various guns he recognized. His parents are not gun owners, nor are they anti-gun. I’m not a big proponent of trying to teach kids to shoot at too early an age as I see far too much of that with kids not ready for it either mentally or physically. Actual age has something to do with it, sure, but a mom or dad’s age and experience is just as important as the child’s. After a few days of Ben’s annual visit I felt he was ready for the experience he has looked forward to for several years.His Granddad agreed, and Ben lit up like a Christmas tree when asked if he would like to actually shoot a real gun. He thought it would be a .22. Ben and his grandpa show off a bit. Nice shooting Ben! A NAturAl W e proceeded to the Jefferson Sportsman range and set up with sandbags on the bench and targets set up 15 yards downrange. Standing behind the bench and leaning into it was a good fit to his height and allowed him to move around and get comfortable with a very steady rest. Then I put the silenced T/C Contender .45 ACP carbine equipped with an Eo Tech dot sight in front of him and went through the motions of explaining how the gun worked and how the sight worked. I would do the loading and cocking when he was lined up on the target. Ben listened and did exactly what he was told — no more, no less; proving his mental readiness. The gun sounds something like a cross between a BB gun and pellet gun. Ill-fitting ear protection wasn’t necessary or distracting and there was no problems with him misunderstanding me or his grandfather either. After a couple dry fire drills his first shot was an almost dead center shot. After 25 or so practices shots he put five in one hole. Target examinations were pretty exciting. Then the water jugs were put out at about 25 yards. The HV Cor Bon .45s blew them in a spectacular fashion. Full cans of pop were set endwise and simply vaporized at impact. Target damage “look-over” was really satisfying. Plastic lids from the water jugs were The Cor-Bon high performance gathered and set up edgewise to shooter and .45 loads from J.D. suppressed disposed of in short order with few misses. Contender made short work of the soda can enemies. A grapefruit-sized rock in the 110-yard berm was an outstanding target and I showed Ben how high to hold the dot over it with my hands. First shot skidded past it at two o’clock. Next shot and a lot of succeeding ones were hits with few misses. A bowling ballsized rock at 200 took about five shots for the first hit. We quit while it was still exciting and fun. ven target clean up was a lot of fun. No doubt Ben is hooked and his other grandpa has him enrolled in a shooting school for kids. Knowledge is safety for kids — and adults. Ben and his grandpa had a wonderful day — but I had more fun than anyone. I’m thinking … I have a .30 cal watercooled Browning tripod mounted MG needing the dust blown out of it. Ben is probably ready for that too. Take a kid shooting — and trust me on that. Safe KiDS e * 36 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY2010